Be afraid. be VERY afraid.
Why? Disney and Pixar have been "together" for years. I think this is more of a formality.
Pixar told Disney to take a hike last year. Eisner and Jobs didn't get along too well. The new guy at Disney has been trying to make nice with Pixar since he took over.
Steve Jobs will now be the majority shareholder in Disney and have a seat on the Board of Directors. This is a whole lot more than a formality.
Pixar will still be a more or less separate entity, although I understand this is going to open up a lot of opportunity for their artists to get other projects. This is going to be interesting to watch.
My point was basically: why should we 'be afraid' of this?
Pixar has probably the single highest density of creative tallent of any group making movies. And their success record stands on its own. Disney, at least the film making division, has been floundering for a while; their stories have stunk and their old-school 2-D animation techniques just don't make the grade visually against modern CGI. (I'm not saying there is no place for the look of hand drawn 2D, but as the basis for a full length feature, it just won't satisfy most contemporary audiences).
So, this is a business move, and probably a good one. Jobs is a pretty smart guy, and one big piece of evidence for his intelligence is that at Pixar, he stayed the heck out of the way and let the creative folks, like Lasseter, do their thing. To me, the real important piece of the puzzle in this is that Lasseter is becoming an exec at Disney as well.
The real thing to watch is how Jobs will fit in on the Disney board. Disney is an old school company with a boatload of content they keep recycling. Jobs is a look to the future guy. I guess if we're lucky he'll rub off on the rest the company.
I don't see how he can't rub off on them...the shareholders are bound to be looking at Pixar's recent successes/popularity and Disney's slide into 'oblivion.' I agree; it will be interesting to watch. My prediction is that Disney will become the war chest to Pixar's creativity.
But you are right - some of the old schoolers at Disney may give up their power reluctantly.
So much for good Pixar movies.
Be afraid of how Disney will screw up Pixar's reputation and be afraid of Disney's attempts to do a decent sequel to movies like "The Incredibles" "Monsters Inc." etc.
For what it's worth, I think (and this is just my opinion) that you have it backwards in terms of who is controlling who. With Jobs on the board and John Lasseter (the real brains behind Pixar's success) as a Chief AND Pixar's President high in the food chain at Disney now too, it is clear that Pixar is 'taking control' over Disney (at least the creative animation side of things), not the other way around.
As long as Lasseter is in a decision-making position, only quality will be released. Actually, Lasseter's new position gives him power over the theme parks, too.
I could be wrong, but Pixar has the real power (recent success and a LOT of tallent on board) no matter what corporate logo gets top billing on the packaging.
Up next is Finding Nemo:the Series! After that is the premier of "Incredibles II: Attack of Death Beam".
John Lasseter has killed the Toy Story 3 project; seems he does not want to dilute the Pixar successes the 3+ redos.
Article Here (http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article341627.ece)
<>
Yeah, I just saw the tv ad this morning for 'Bambi 2'! I thought I was going to be ill!
I think basically Disney gave PIxar money so Pixar could have Disney's distribution chain
I bet I can still make you guys sick.
I read the plans for TS3 in an article that talked about what Disney wanted to do for the third and it defenetly woulda been a flop---a Neverending Story sequel type of ordeal for the new generation.
here they are--and I promise i am not making this up.
It was gonna be a direct to video release-surefire sign of a flop
NONE of the voices from the original--none one wanted to do a third sequel-especially one direct to video.
The plot was going to have Buzz getting recalled to Taiwan because he was defective.
and the the worst thing for this movie?
TRADITIONAL ANIMATION!---This is because at the time Disney and Pixar were not getting along and CGI was too expensive at that point in Disney's opinion so they were gonna take the cheap way out
All good reasons for Lasseter to nix it. Rest easy, TS3 is no more.
Now, put that same hopeful "please, PLEASE don't make that movie" energy into some of the other projects they have on the slate.
And have faith in Lasseter. He's no fool.
Hey pops, that hand drawn animation version reminds me of the fact that the exact same thing happened to Stuart Little [straight to video, normal animation and no original cast] for the 3rd [I think] film.
Gah, it's all so frustrating when that sort of thing happens.
Disney is just too...weird isn't the word I'm looking for. They just seem to sanitize (and worse) everything they touch. And I hate that their name is above the title of 'Tron'.
Looks like their aquistion of Pixar may bring Disney back to the front in quality family entertainment. I especially like the part where he is canning the direct to video sequels to Disney's classic films.
Check it out here (http://www.sewardstreet.com/2006/02/it_just_keeps_g.html).
<>
I'm sure they'll be getting a ton of dough from their latest batch (Bambi 2 and ilk) though.
Well, we WON'T be watching or buying Bambi 2, that's for sure. But we are going to get the new release of Lady and the Tramp. You know, the whole voting with our dollars sort of thing.
Too bad Lasseter could not stop Bambi 2, but that one was just too far gone.
I wonder how much they paid Patrick Stewart for 'Bambi 2'.
ulthar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Too bad Lasseter could not stop Bambi 2, but that
> one was just too far gone.
Yes, we certainly needed a sequel to to a classic like Bambi 60 some odd years after it's original release.
Yes, we certainly needed a sequel to to a classic like Bambi 60 some odd years after it's original release.
Yeah, especially when so many of the original actors have aged so much or have died